Chapter 51 Chapter 51
Hailey’s POV
I kissed him with an intensity that surprised even me, pouring all my confusion and fear and desperate need into it. My lips crashed against his, tongues tangling in a frantic dance as I gripped his shoulders, pulling him closer.
When I pulled back just enough to speak, my lips still brushing against his, I whispered, “Do you still have the strength to make me forget about everything?”
His eyes darkened with desire and something else, something raw and vulnerable I’d never seen before. His hands trembled slightly as they cupped my face, his thumbs stroking my cheeks.
“Always,” he breathed, and then his hands were on me, pulling off my clothes with urgent but careful movements, mindful of my cast.
He peeled my shirt up slowly, avoiding the bulky plaster on my arm, then unhooked my bra with deft fingers, freeing my breasts to the cool air. I shivered as he tugged down my pants, his touch lingering on my thighs, tracing the bruises from the day's chaos.
Naked now except for the cast, I watched him strip quickly, his cock springing free, hard and thick, veins pulsing with need. He guided me to the bed, laying me down gently before climbing over me, his body a warm shield.
He entered me in one smooth thrust, his cock filling my pussy completely, stretching me with that perfect burn. I gasped, arching up to meet him, my good hand clawing at his back.
He started moving, slow at first, each slide in and out deliberate, grinding deep to hit every sensitive spot inside me.
His hips rocked harder now, driving into me with raw power, our bodies slapping together in a rhythm that echoed our pounding hearts.
I moaned into his neck, biting down lightly as waves of heat coiled tighter in my core. His touch erased the terror of the day, his cock plunging deep, my walls clenching around him, pulling him closer with every thrust.
As he moved inside me, as the pleasure built between us, I felt him getting close, his breathing ragged, his control slipping. His thrusts grew erratic, harder, his balls tightening against me as he chased release. Sweat dripped from his brow onto my chest, and I could feel the tension in his muscles, the way he fought to hold on.
That’s when I intensified my movements, pressed closer, rolling my hips to take him deeper, my pussy gripping his length like a vice. I whispered against his ear, my voice breathless but insistent, “How special was Elena to you?”
His rhythm faltered slightly, a hitch in his breath, but I didn’t let up. I squeezed my inner muscles around his cock, urging him on even as the words hung between us like a blade.
“Why did you let the accident happen?” I continued, my nails digging into his skin, the pleasure sharpening into something edged with pain and truth.
“Hailey…..” he started, but I tightened around him, and he groaned, his defenses crumbling.
“It wasn’t an accident,” he gasped out, vulnerable in a way I’d never heard him before. “It was planned. Carried out by a mole in my organization. I never found out who.”
The admission hung between us as he reached his climax, his body shuddering against mine.
For a moment afterward, we just lay there, breathing hard, tangled together.
Then reality crashed back in, and the atmosphere shifted completely.
Damien pulled away, sitting up on the edge of the bed with his back to me. The tension in his shoulders was obvious.
“You only had sex with me to question me,” he said quietly, and there was hurt beneath the accusation.
Guilt twisted in my stomach, but frustration overwhelmed it. “That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” He turned to look at me, his expression closed off now, the vulnerability from moments ago completely gone. “You waited until I was most vulnerable, then interrogated me.”
“I needed to know,” I said, sitting up and pulling the sheet around myself. “Because I don’t feel safe, Damien. Not in this house, not in this life. Especially not after learning that my father made contact with Elena.”
That got his attention. He turned fully to face me, his expression shifting to confusion. “What are you talking about? Your father?”
“The newspaper article mentioned someone named Cooper,” I said. “That’s my father’s name. Thomas Cooper. And according to what I read, someone by that name called Elena the night she died.”
“I don’t know your father,” Damien said, his voice tense. “You barely talk about your parents, Hailey. How am I supposed to connect dots when I don’t have any information?”
“Maybe if you’d answered my question earlier about whether I was just a replacement for Elena, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this,” I shot back.
“That’s not the same thing,” he said.
“Isn’t it?” I challenged, throwing his own words back at him. “We’re both keeping secrets. We’re both holding parts of ourselves back. So don’t act like I’m the only one keepikg secret.”
He stared at me for a long moment, something complicated and painful in his eyes. Then he stood, grabbing his clothes from the floor.
“I have an early meeting with the elders,” he said, his tone flat and distant. “Get some rest.”
He dressed quickly and left without another word, the door closing behind him with a soft click that felt like a wall going up between us.
I lay back down, staring at the ceiling, my body still warm from his touch but my heart cold with the distance that had suddenly opened up between us.
We’d both revealed truths tonight, but instead of bringing us closer, it had only driven us further apart.
Eventually, exhaustion claimed me, and I drifted into restless sleep,
————
I woke to sunlight streaming through the windows and an empty bed beside me.
Damien was already gone, probably at his meeting with the elders.
I reached for my phone to check the time and saw I had a missed call from an unknown number. Before I could listen to the voicemail, the phone rang again.
Same number.
I answered cautiously. “Hello?”
“Hailey, it’s Detective Sarah Morrison,” came the familiar voice. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”
My stomach immediately knotted with anxiety. “Detective, I told you I can’t come to the station right now.”
“I understand that you’re in a difficult situation,” she said, her tone professional but not unkind. “But I really need you to come in. We’ve caught someone lurking around your old apartment.”
My blood ran cold. “What? Who?”